CULTURE

AND ASSESSMENT:
Discovering What Students Really Knew
From R&D Alert
How can we know what stu-
dents know?
At first, the answer seems sim-
ple. After teaching new informa-
tion and providing time to prac-
tice concepts or skills, we assess
their understanding with a quiz
or test. Tofindout how a student
or a group compares to peers, we
standardize the tests so that all
students answer equally challeng-
ing questions.
But what if the way we ask the
questions unintentionally causes
some to fail? What if our assess-
ments miss uncovering the depth
and complexity of knowledge be-
cause they contain assumptions
about language, culture, values,
and experiences that these stu-
dents don't share?
These concerns have inspired
work by Sharon Nelson-Barber,
formerly the Director of WestEd's
Center for the Study of Culture
and Language in Education. The
center's research focused primar-
ily on how culture, language, and
socioeconomic status influence
the ways people think and solve
problems. More recently, Nelson-
Barber has been exploring how
cultural background, particularly
of indigenous students, may af-
fect performance on large-scale
standardized achievement tests
and what can be done to make the
assessments more accessible and
equitable.
In one study, Nelson-Barber
and colleagues looked at how
students interpreted science and
math items on the National As-
sessment of Educational Progress.
An 8th grade science item asked
for one "advantage" and one "dis-
advantage" to using laboratory
animals such as mice, guinea pigs,
and monkeys as "models" to help
find cures for human diseases.
An indigenous Hawaiian student
described a disadvantage as fol-

WestEd. (2010). "Culture and Assessment: Discovering What Stu-

dents Really Know." R&D Alert, Vol. 11, No. 2. San Francisco, CA: Author.
Adapted and reprinted with permission from WestEd. For more information,
contact Ursuia Sexton at usexton@wested.org or visit WestEd.org.

April 2011 43
 THE EDUCATION DIGEST
lows: "There is no such thing as
laboratory animals. All animals are
our brothers and sisters and our
spiritual teachers. We don't have
the right to use or kill them unless
it is for food."
The questions raised by the
cultural mismatch between this
student's view of the world and
the test question aren't principally
about what's correct or incorrect.
The bigger issue is that the ques-
tion elicits very little of the stu-
Assessments that
accurately reflect
traditional ways of
knowing for a specific
cultural group can
produce richer and
more valid results.
dent's understanding of laboratory
science. On the other hand, it does
provide useful information on how
to be effective in teaching him.
Noting that some indigenous
communities have developed cul-
turally acceptable ways for their
children to engage in classroom
activities, Nelson-Barber says,
"Getting to that point involves
communication with elders and
others in the community based on
mutual respect. In some situations,
elders may conduct an appropriate
ceremony before students partici-
pate in an activity such as animal
44 www.eddigest.com
dissection which would otherwise
be taboo."
Assessing Culturally Rooted
Ways of Knowing
Assessments that accurately
reflect traditional ways of know-
ing for a specific cultural group
can produce richer and more valid
results. Consider schools where
curricula and assessments are
based on the culture and experi-
ences of the Yup'ik, an indigenous
group from Alaska. Subject con-
tent is routinely taught through
everyday activities in the culture,
such as basket making, fishing,
and navigating using landmarks
and, after dark, constellations of
stars. Validity of the assessments
is further refined when educators
consult with tribal elders. Cultural
authorities can determine if, for
example, test questions correctly
represent the perceptions and
experiences of people whose tra-
ditional orienteering practices
make use of sophisticated math
and science reasoning.
Testing that is authentic in this
way gives students the oppor-
tunity to draw on their cultural
heritage to express deeper under-
standing of concepts and to use
their experiences to interpret new
information.
"Only a fraction of actual stu-
dent knowledge is assessed by
many test questions. With more
culturally relevant assessment,
we seek to increase that percent-
 Cuiture and Assessment
age considerably," Nelson-Barber
explains.
Nelson-Barber cautions that
her research does not suggest that
each culturally cohesive group of
students will need a culturally spe-
cific assessment. Nor does it mean
that students needn't ever learn to
take standardized assessments.
But without investigating the var-
ied perceptions that students
bring to testing, educators and
policy makers may never be able
to discover what students actually
know, or to design tests that fully
measure their understanding.
For years, educators and re-
searchers have been aware that
the format of a test and its language
and vocabulary can sometimes un-
fairly penalize students who lack
common context. Test developers
have tried to correct for cultural
bias. Schools have made accom-
modations for certain groups of
students, such as allowing extra
time on tests for those learning
English as a second language. But
often adjustments are ineffective
because they are based on limited
experience with particular cultural
groups.
In some cases, Nelson-Barber
says, test developers might start
with the faulty belief that students
who share the same racial or ethnic
heritage or language also share the
same culture, when in reality there
may be vast differences among the
students' personal experiences
because of family income or geog-
Aprii 2011
raphy. Other times, the test ques-
tions or process might not account
for the fact that some children are
taught to publicly camouflage their
knowledge so that others don't feel
inferior Additionally, developers
may not take the step of verifying
that students with diverse cultural
backgrounds actually understand
what the assessment is asking.
Nelson-Barber recalls study
team discussions about one math
test question that focused on ajj-
portioning the ingredients used to
make tacos, a food test developers
believed more familiar to Mexican
immigrants, and thus, more rel-
evant to Mexican students taking
the assessment. But, in response
to a test question about how many
tacos could be assembled and
distributed based on identified
ingredients, some students gave
the wrong answer not because
they didn't understand division
but because their experience with
portion sizes differed from those
assumed by test developers.
Cultivating Cross-Cuitural
Awareness
Nelson-Barber's interest in re-
fining testing goes beyond her
belief that culturally sensitive as-
sessments are more valid and fair.
She advocates for cross-cultural
awareness and competence in as-
sessment and teaching because
such understanding sets a more
solid foundation for improving
student success. •
45
 THE EDUCATION DIGEST

"This is much broader than as- At a policy level, test develop-

sessment. We must better prepare
teachers to understand cultural
diversity," Nelson-Barber says.
"They're not ever going to know
everything about every child in
their classrooms. But they will be
more effective if they ask basic
questions about students' cultural
backgrounds: What are some of
the general principles that I need?
What individuals or institutions
do I need to know about or what
activities do I need to participate
in so that I can get a sense of how
people are thinking, communi-
cating, what they want for their
children?"
How teachers assimilate that
information into their instruction
"can really make all the difference
in moving a child's learning experi-
ence forward." In observations of
teachers who are most effective
with students from diverse cultural
backgrounds, Nelson-Barber and
her colleagues have found that
they respect and actively nurture
the children's prior knowledge. By
momentarily setting aside their
own cultural assumptions to listen
to how students view the world,
such teachers make it safe for ev-
eryone to ask questions, clear up
misconceptions, and fully express
their knowledge. "Understandably,
students can be more fully engaged
in learning when they don't feel
they have to leave parts of their
identity outside the classroom,"
she says.
ers and education leaders can do
more to investigate why some as-
sessments produce poor results.
Ideally, Nelson-Barber says, deep
cultural awareness would inform
test creation, dissemination, and
evaluation. Such a comprehensive
approach might move closer to
eliminating cultural bias in testing
and the need for accommodations
for some groups of students.
At the school level, teachers
and administrators can forge al-
liances with parents and leaders
of different cultural groups repre-
sented in the school population.
These partnerships can be espe-
cially vital to school communities
where demographic shifts have
changed the student populations
of many classrooms. •
" I t may have been a teachable
moment for you, but it wasn't a
learnable moment for me."

46 www.eddigest.com
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